Free Range Hens reaching egg laying age

[GooseMoyo]

I have 6 hens at 19 weeks old (Australorp, sex-link, plymouth rock). They're free ranging with the rest of the flock who are laying their eggs in the coup. I haven't seen any of the young hens' eggs... so I'm not sure if they just haven't started laying yet or they're laying somewhere in the surrounding tree line; they free range ~1.5 acres with hundreds of potential laying locations.
Are their physical signs present for when new hens begin to lay? I was banking on them just copying what the older hens are already doing... is that a mistake? Should i just lock them in the run for a few days to make sure? Is it possible they're just late in starting to lay? I'm in south Texas and we just hit a cold spell so maybe the weather change slowed them up?

Thanks!

 

[Yardmom]

The weather and the day length might be slowing the start of laying. Pullets get physical changes before and after laying starts. Combs and wattles get redder, pelvic area spreads, and squatting for roosters (or people). Do your pullets tend to go a sperate direction then the rest of the flock? If so keeping them in for a bit might be help them learn where to lay, but like you are thinking usually pullets will pick up on where to lay from older birds.

 

[GooseMoyo]

The weather and the day length might be slowing the start of laying. Pullets get physical changes before and after laying starts. Combs and wattles get redder, pelvic area spreads, and squatting for roosters (or people). Do your pullets tend to go a sperate direction then the rest of the flock? If so keeping them in for a bit might be help them learn where to lay, but like you are thinking usually pullets will pick up on where to lay from older birds.

At certain times of day they are separate off from the older hens, but most of the day they are relatively close in proximity. They definitely have a few favorite spots that I've been checking, but they could be laying anywhere. I have a ~20 yard wide, ~150 yard long tree line (edit: thick junipers... not easy to walk through) that they run up and down all day.

 

[Perris]

you might find this useful
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

 

[GooseMoyo]

you might find this useful
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

Awesome - thank you!

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

If it helps my chickens also free range all day and are a mixed-age flock. My youngest pullets took to laying where the older ones did for the most part. I set up some extra nest boxes on the ground near the coop just in case the little ones didn’t want to fight for the favorite coop nesting box and I will get eggs in both places and very rarely one or two will lay in a trough in the barn.

 

[GooseMoyo]

If it helps my chickens also free range all day and are a mixed-age flock. My youngest pullets took to laying where the older ones did for the most part. I set up some extra nest boxes on the ground near the coop just in case the little ones didn’t want to fight for the favorite coop nesting box and I will get eggs in both places and very rarely one or two will lay in a trough in the barn.

Good idea. No matter how many layers or nesting boxes I've had, they all always use the same box (except when they tried to hide them from me to hatch)... I'll set up some different ones.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They free range together during the day. Where do they spend their nights?

Dad had a free ranging flock where the hens hatched chicks and raised them with the flock. When those new pullets started laying they mostly laid in the nests the older hens used. They were normal chickens, the adolescents sort or formed their own flock as they went through puberty. But once they started laying they formed one flock.

They are living animals, you do not get guarantees. The vast majority laid where the older hens laid. On a rare occasion a pullet would hide a nest. Sometimes one of the older hens would hide a nest.

You will probably be OK but there is always a chance one of them will hide a nest. That kind of stuff happens when you deal with living animals.

 

[GooseMoyo]

They free range together during the day. Where do they spend their nights?

Dad had a free ranging flock where the hens hatched chicks and raised them with the flock. When those new pullets started laying they mostly laid in the nests the older hens used. They were normal chickens, the adolescents sort or formed their own flock as they went through puberty. But once they started laying they formed one flock.

They are living animals, you do not get guarantees. The vast majority laid where the older hens laid. On a rare occasion a pullet would hide a nest. Sometimes one of the older hens would hide a nest.

You will probably be OK but there is always a chance one of them will hide a nest. That kind of stuff happens when you deal with living animals.

I've got a coop/run with an automatic door. They all sleep in a big cedar/juniper tree in the middle of the run (they've never liked the coop, but the older hens always lay their eggs there).

When the chicks were younger, they ran as a separate flock - there was a young cockeral that ran with them until the dog got him. They stayed separate for a bit after that but recently both groups have begun to spend more time together... I haven't noticed any animosity from the older chickens.

They'll be 20 weeks this Sunday. I sent the kids on an egg hunt this morning and they didn't find anything... but it's possible they've been laying and something has been picking off the eggs at night. If I don't see anything from them in the coop by this weekend, I'll just lock them in the run for a few days to see what's going on.

I hear you on them being animals and acting like animals. Some of these were hatched by one of the hens who had hoarded ~15 eggs in a cut out barrel... found it a few days too late so I just let her hatch them.

 

[SourRoses]

They may have just not made the cutoff point when the hours of light each day allow for the onset of lay.
Pullets who are already in lay during months of sufficient sunlight will keep laying through fall and winter. Those whose bodies were not ready until the days shortened won't activate the hormones needed to start until spring.
The month pullets hatched matters as far as whether they can begin laying before winter. And the particular genetics of each pullet makes a difference, not just how many months to reproductive maturity but her sensitivity to light levels. Some breeds can lay through darker conditions, while some quit early.

Here in the south, we are already at a very low light level, 11 hours here in FL. I think it's the same in Texas?
That's just too low for the gals. What you can do, if you want, is add a little supplemental light to the run for a couple hours after dark or before dawn, your choice. It should not be daylight bright, like they're going to play baseball or something. They just need a full moonlit level to trigger the hormones. I like to have lights I can turn down low and on the warm / yellow side, so they can sleep through it.